Miniature packet



Aug. 21, 1951 L. ADLER MINIATURE PACKET Filed Dec. 8, 1945 Uwenfor LEON APLER Afforney Patented Aug. 21, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MINIATURE PACKET 1 Leon Adler, St. Louis, Mo. Application December 8, 1945 Serial No. 633,885

-2-Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in miniature packets, and more particularly to such'devices that are primarily adapted to con tain small amounts ofmaterials, such as coloring matter or the like, intended to be intermixed with various base commodities for the treatment of the latter, as for example, for tinting or coloring oleomargarine or the like for table use.

The principal objects of my'inventionare to soconstruct'a packet of this type, thatit will hold a small quantity of material which may be emptied easily,jquickly, completely, and without likelihood of accidentallyspilling said contents in such operation.

, An'important object of this invention is to so cqnstruct such a packet, that the same will have such retained material in a pocket formed between pair of laminations, and wherein said pocket will be bounded by a relatively narrow endless sealing band, so that although said pocket will normally remain sufficiently eiTeetively' sealed forthe purpose, said narrow seal may'be readily intentionally opened or broken whenever it is desired to open the pocket and empty the same of its contents.

A second object of my invention is to so con struct a miniaturepacketof the kind described, of. a'pair of opposed layers or laminations of sheeting, 'with an endless sealing band therebetween to form a material-receiving pocket within the boundary of said band; unsealed and extending to the peripheral bounding edge of the packet, so that said laminations may then be grasped in unison at said outeryunseale'd portions, to thus peel "them apart and expose the contents of said pocket for emptying.

Another object of this invention is to so construct' the packet 'of the kind described, from suchjmaterials, and infsuch manner, that the resultant line of pull inpeeling said sheets apart is preferably not continuously parallel ,to said sealiband, but is at an angle thereto, and where,- in the line of peeling is not coextensive with the dimension of the packet therealong.

'An' added object of this invention is to so construct a packet of the kind described, with a corner or a peripheral portion of the same bent upon'itself to make itrmore readily grasped by the fingers when it isdesired topeel one of said laminations from the other to separatejthem and expose the contents of said pocket.

A further object of my invention is to con structsaid packet of a pair of laminations of such materialsso that when one of them; is

2V bent back as a tab between the sealing band and the outer periphery of the packet at any point of said periphery, the resultant degree of transparency through said packet at said area previously covered by the tab before bending will be markedly and noticeably different than at the remainder of the periperhal area of the packet, to thusindicate the predetermined point at which separation of said laminations should commence in order to peel the packet for use.

A still further object of the invention is to form said packet with one of said laminations colored differently than the other, on opposite faces of said pocket, so that when said packet is intentionally folded or creased at any predetermined interval of its unsealed periphery, the difference in coloration between said pointand the remainder of such unsealedpe'riphery will, be visibly intensified to more accurately indicate thepredetermined point or interval at which peeling is to start for emptying the packet of its contents.

Another added object of my invention is to provide a packet of the kind'described, wherein the laminations on opposite sides or faces of said pocket shall be of materials of such different physical characteristics that while one of such laminations retains its folded or creased form after being bent, the other lamination will substantially straighten itself out to return .to its initial or original plane or shape after such bending.

Other objects of my invention are the production of such packets that will be neat and attractive in appearance, most convenient to use, economical to make, and which shall be otherwise satisfactory and efficient for use wherever found applicable, it being distinctly understood that many forms and kinds ofcoin modities may be thus packaged :for use as desired.

Many other objects and advantages of the construction herein shown and described will be obvious to those skilled in theart to which this invention appertains, as .will .be seen from the disclosures herein given.

To this end, my invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement, combination and arrangement of parts, and-the-method of obtaining the same, herein shown'and described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like or corresponding parts throughout the views,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of my improved packet;

Figure 2 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the same, taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. l, and showing the bent and the retrieved positions of the top ply of the packet; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view, illustrating the manner of manipulation of the packet to peel the same to expose the contents for emptying.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, wherein I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, A represents one of the individual packets as it appears ready for use, and whose contents may be emptied therefrom for the desired use, into a receptacle or into or onto some base commodity. Such a packet is most generally of miniature size, although it may have a concentrated matter, such as a coloring, contained therein, to properly treat a unit amount of the base commodity, say for treatment of one pound of oleomargarine, to color the latter to a predetermined tint or shade.

The packet is preferably of a somewhat flat shape with a shallow pocket I aproximately centrally spaced within its bounding, peripheral or terminal edge, and in which pocket there is held sealed, a small quantity of coloring matter or the like, for instance, as indicated at 2, said amount and kind varying with the particular purpose intended.

This pocket may be of any shape or outline, and is shown as being circular in the preferred embodiment, while the packet itself may have its peripheral edge of a preferably non-circular shape, as for example, the polygonal shape shown, the sides of the hexagon exemplification being indicated at 3. It has been found in practice, that when said packet is of the hexagonal shaped outline shown, it adapts itself well to being made and handled throughout all stages of manufacture and marketing, without waste of packet material, and with ease and rapidity.

Said packet A may be formed of a pair of opposed sheets one of which is indicated at 4, and which is of a thin, pliant or relatively flimsy, nonfibrous material, preferably from a cellulose derivative, such as regenerated cellulose, and which is preferably air-proof and moisture-proof, and may be transparent, although it may be colored to a tint that is pleasing to the purchasing public. The other sheet may be of a cheaper and sturdier material, one which will remain folded or creased after being bent, and it has been found that glassine paper or other coated or uncoated papers having the characteristics herein mentioned, are suitable for the purpose. Said sturdier sheet or reinforcing sheet 5 may be transparent, although it is preferred that it be translucent, or it may even be opaque, so as to form a more pleasing background for the transparent, colored sheet 4.

Said pair of sheets 4 and 5 may be out or otherwise suitably formed into the preferably hexagon shapes shown, preferably after they have been scaled together with the preferably circular, relatively narrow and endless sealing band 6, said seal being about wide in practice, and said pocket having been filled prior to such sealing.

This sealing band 6, although of such relatively narrow width throughout its length, is a sufficiently strong one to efficiently retain the material within said pocket I formed within the boundary of said seal, and will not accidentally break open at said seal, but requires an inten- 4 tional or determined breaking of such seal when it is desired to open said pocket.

Said seal may be accomplished by heat and pressure applied to the pair of superimposed sheets, thereby making a thermoplastic-material seal in the shape of pressure band thus applied, or said seal may be had in other ways, as by an adhesive, or through a thermoplastic film cemented to the uncoated sheeting as a sealing medium.

It is preferred that the materials of both sheets 4 and 5 be of such impermeability to the sealing medium so that the seal shall be substantially a surface one and not go deeply into the thickness of said sheets. The reason that deep penetration of sealing medium is objectionable is that it makes it rather diflicult if not impossible to thereafter peel or separate the sheets without tearing them, thus losing effective and accurate control of the separation of the sheets and causing the spilling of the contents of the pocket. On the other hand, the narrow seal, with the endless unsealed border surrounding the same, insures an easy peeling of the sheets, one from the other, and results in a complete opening across the pocket. If a spot is left unsealed about the peripheral boundary of a packet that has the ordinary wide seal band, then, instead of one sheet peeling evenly from the bottom sheet, the former sheet tears down unevenly and may expose only about a third of the pocket area for emptying.

The usable material 2, such as the coloring suggested, is placed within the packet at any suitable stage of manufacture, and generally at just prior to sealing. Said sealing band, it is to be stressed,

is at a distance spaced inwardly from the terminal or peripheral edge of the packet at every point of continuity of the band, and the unsealed, endless border of the pocket is free entirely about said periphery of the packet.

When one of the sheets of the packet is grasped with one hand and the opposed sheet with the other hand, as shown in Fig. 3, and the hands then moved apart, said sheets will separate or peel, to wholly open the pocket so that the contents of the latter may be dispensed for use. It is preferred that at least one pull tab be provided, in order to facilitate peeling or separation of the sheets, and this may be done in the relatively simple but effective manner now to be described, and in the present embodiment a pair of such tabs are shown.

It will be remembered that one of said sheets is preferably stiffer, or less resilient than the other, the more resilient sheet having the physical characteristic of tending to return or retrieve itself to its initial or original shape after it has been folded or bent. This characteristic is very important in several ways that are extremely useful in the manufacture of the packet, as will now be seen.

In the process of manufacture, both sheets are bent simultaneously, inwardly across a line of fold I located between the free peripheral edge of the packet and the sealing band, to thereby form thetabs 8 and 9 on the sheets 4 and 5, respectively. The sheet 5, being of relatively stiff, or slightly resilient paper, Will retain said tab 9 bent into its reentrant position, while the other tab 8 on the more resilient sheet 4, will return or retrieve itself, more or less slowly, from the dotted line reentrant position shown in Fig. 2, to substantially resume its original or initial plane or shape shown in full lines in said figure.

Hence the tabs 8 and 9 will thus be positioned at approximately 180 apart after the retrievable one has returned to its original plane, or at least to a position of spread of at least greater than 90 apart, so that it will be quite easy and convenient to grasp the pair of tabs with both of the hands to pull the sheets apart by said tabs. This is a much more convenient arrangement than if both tabs were permanently retained bent back closely to substantially the plane of their sheets of origin.

With one of said sheets transparent and colored, as for instance the sheet 4, then after said packet has been made and the tabs bent, and the more resilient tab 8 has retrieved itself to original position, the packet will appear visually different at said latter tab than at any point about the border area of the packet. This color contrast high-lights said tab 8, and enables a prospective user of the packet to instantly recognize the location of said tab and the point for commencing to peel the packet apart. No matter what coloration or degree of transparency the sheet may have, this visual designation of the tab 8 will result, when the sheets i and 5 have the structural relationship and the resiliency characteristics herebefore mentioned.

Having thus described my invention, it is obvious that various immaterial modifications may be made in the same without departing from the spirit of my invention; hence I do not wish to be understood as being limited to the exact form, arrangement, construction and combination of parts herein shown and described, and the method employed, except as limited by the state of the prior art, and the claims hereunto appended.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A packet of the kind described comprising a pair of opposed approximately flat sheets of differing characteristics, one of said sheets being sufficiently more resiliently flexible than the other to return to its initially fiat form after being bent, said sheets secured together along an endless band that is spaced entirely inwardly from the peripheral edge of the packet to provide an inner pocket, and said packet being unsealed between said peripheral edge and seal band, material removably retained within said pocket, said less resilient sheet being permanently deformed by being bent back upon itself at a portion of said unsealed edge so that the other sheet projects outwardly beyond said bent-back portion of the first sheet to provide a tab, and said sheets being entirely detachable from one another by grasping one of said sheets at said bent-back portion and the other sheet at said tab and pulling said sheets apart and whereby said material in said pocket is entirely uncovered for disposal.

2. A packet of the kind described comprising a pair of opposed substantially flat sheets of different degrees of flexibility, only one of said sheets being sufficiently resiliently flexible to retrieve itself to its initially flat shape after being foldably creased, said sheets sealed together along an endless band to provide an inner material-receiving pocket, and unsealed between a portion of its peripheral edge and said seal band, material removably retained within said pocket, said other sheet being less resilient than said first sheet and permanently deformed with said unsealed edge portion bent back upon itself so that the first sheet projects outwardly beyond said bent-back portion of said second sheet to thereby provide a tab, whereby said sheets are entirely detachable from one another by grasping one sheet at said tab and the other sheet at said bent-back portion and pulling said sheets apart to entirely uncover said pocket and expose the material therein.

LEON ADLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany Aug. 17, 1931 Number Number 

